Waterston Desert Writing Prize
Caroline Treadway – 2015 Finalist
Finalist Caroline Treadway’s proposal, “Step on This: Desert Ants,” bridged the divide between entomologist and layperson, bringing these tiny creatures to life through narrative and imagery. While living in Cambridge, she photographed ants at Harvard University’s entomology department for Dr. Gary Alpert. Alpert received the first research permits to collect ants on the Navajo Reservation, near Shiprock, N.M. He invited Caroline on-board as research assistant and journalist. Since then, she has taken over 20 trips to the southwestern desert in search of new species of ants, and plants. She planned to continue fieldwork with Dr. Alpert and Stefan Cover on the Navajo Reservation, in the Grand Canyon and the Sky Islands of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. The desert Southwest is home a high diversity of ant species. Ants are one of the most successful and widespread organisms on the planet.
Treadway is a writer and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado. Her words and images appear in magazines, books and newspapers worldwide. Her advertising clients include New Balance and National Geographic Online. A native of Washington D.C., Caroline attended the Potomac School. In 2000, she graduated magna cum laude from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., with a Bachelor’s degree in World Religion. Caroline graduated in 2010 from Boston University with a Master’s degree in Journalism.